Ahu Tongariki and Its 15 Moai

Ahu Tongariki is the largest ceremonial platform on Easter Island, with 15 restored moai standing on it, in the words of Ma’u Henua, the indigenous community that manages Rapa Nui National Park. It sits at the east end of the island on the bay of Hanga Nui, below the Poike peninsula and a short way from the Rano Raraku quarry. You can see Tongariki on a sunrise tour, with the sun coming up behind the fifteen moai, or by day on the full-day tours that go out along the south coast; either way you need a park ticket and a guide. RAPA NUI DREAM’s pack does both in one booking: two full days around the island and a sunrise morning at Tongariki, from US$250 per adult (checked November 2026).

The platform and its fifteen moai

An ahu is the stone platform the moai stand on. Ma’u Henua’s description of Tongariki is short: the largest platform on the island, with 15 restored moai and spectacular views to contemplate the sunrise (rapanuinationalpark.com, checked November 15, 2026). The sun comes up behind the line of statues, which is why the sunrise tours come here.

Chile’s National Center for Conservation and Restoration (CNCR), whose team later worked on the statues, gives the measurements in its 2007 paper on the site: a central platform close to 100 meters long, and a largest moai of 14 meters with its pukao, the stone topknot.

Knocked down by a wave in 1960, rebuilt from 1992

The fifteen moai you see stood up again only in the 1990s. On May 20, 1960, after the great Valdivia earthquake in southern Chile, a large wave struck what remained of the ahu and scattered it over a wide area. Between 1992 and 1995 a multidisciplinary team led by the University of Chile rebuilt it, paid for by a Japanese company that also donated a large crane for the work. A conservation treatment planned for the statues then was not carried out for lack of funds; it was finally done in 2004, in a UNESCO-financed project coordinated by Chile’s National Monuments Council, with the CNCR and Japan’s Nara conservation institute giving the volcanic tuff the moai are carved from a consolidation and water-repellent treatment. All of this is in the CNCR’s paper (Conserva No. 11, 2007).

Rano Raraku and Poike, next door

The quarry where the moai were carved is just inland. Ma’u Henua describes Rano Raraku as the main quarry, with 400 moai at different stages, known as the “factory” of the moai, with a lake in its crater. It is one of the two sites the park ticket lets you enter only once (the other is Orongo), so a tour that pairs the Tongariki sunrise with Rano Raraku, like Pukao Moai Tours Rapa Nui's sunrise and quarry morning (4 hours, US$135 per adult), uses that one entry. The Poike peninsula rises behind Tongariki to the northeast, the island’s eastern corner.

Seeing Ahu Tongariki at dawn or by day

Ahu Tongariki is a site of Rapa Nui National Park. Ma’u Henua’s rule for the whole park: buy a ticket, and hire a guide accredited by Ma’u Henua to enter (checked November 15, 2026). The ticket is CLP 95,000 for a foreign adult and is valid for 10 consecutive days; Tongariki is not limited to one visit, so you can see it at dawn and again by day on the same ticket.

Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (checked November 2026), regular prices for one adult. The park ticket is not included on any of the three. Treat them as a guide, not a quote: the calendar shows the price for your date and group before you pay.

At the platform, the park asks you to keep the permitted distance, not to touch or lean on the moai or the ahu, to walk only on the marked trails and not to fly a drone without authorization. Tongariki sunrise today has the next sunrise time and cloud forecast, and the homepage compares every sunrise tour.